With the college football season underway, the first big day in the NFL just hours away, and baseball playoffs, hockey and basketball just around the corner, its time to open up the new general sports conversation. Which sports are your favorite? Are you a die hard fan of any teams, and how come? Or perhaps you play sports yourself? Are you ready to post?...because the quarterback has started his cadence...*HUT....HUT....HIKE!*

Well, I just heard Donovan McNabb broke a rib maybe it was a good move to take Vick, although it'll probably heal pretty quickly. I hope they do great this year though, it's about time they brought home a Superbowl win

Soooo....just a little more random, is anyone else incredibly shocked and angry they took out softball for the 2012 Olympics? It's always been a highlight of the Olympics for me, and I just hope they put it back in for 2016.

I haven't been happy about them trying to take out fencing events, a sport that has been in the Modern (ancient Greek) Olypmics since thier founding. What amazes me is that they take out well known international sports like softball and put in something really weird like trampoline. Since when was trampoline a sport?

I don't follow College ball too often. My college football team is pretty back, just taking a spanking from KU. Though college players take the sport way more seriously than a number of pros, I tend to follow the pros more.

In the NFL, I go for the Broncos who pulled off a miracle without the aid of the referees (last year against San Diego). I got back from church just in time to see the miracle play. Denver falls behind 7-6 with 38 seconds left. 1st down, they throw a pick that was fortunately caught out of bounds. Then on 2nd down, they nearly get intercepted again, but the ball was tipped. A Bronco reciever was at the right place at the right time and took the ball all the way for an 87-yard touchdown to win the game. It was insane. Now we'll find out if it was a fluke or not next week.

I am closely following baseball right now, specifically the Colorado Rockies. They are the best team since June going from 12-games below .500 (20-32) on June 3 to 21 games over .500 (82-61) with today's game pending. They have pulled from 15 1/2 games behind LA Dodgers to 3 (right now). And as I am typing this, LA is down 3-0 and Colorado is up 3-2. If these scores keep (LA loses and CO wins), the Rockies will be just two games back from LA and remain 5 1/2 ahead for the Wild Card lead. Barring a momumental collapse as big in scale as thier climb, the Rockies are going to the playoffs this year.

Be watching for the release of my spiritual warfare novel under a new title: "Call to Arms" by OakTara Publishing. A sequel (title TBD) will shortly follow.

Well, I am a happy football fan. USC won yesterday, the Broncos eked out an amazing win, and Tom Brady finally is back with my Patriots tomorrow.

greenleaf23 wrote:Well, I just heard Donovan McNabb broke a rib maybe it was a good move to take Vick, although it'll probably heal pretty quickly.

He was looking good before he was injured, though! Is Vick the actual backup? I thought he was more of a work-in-progress after being out of football for so long.

Why did they take softball out of the Olympics? Especially with its popularity in Asia?EDIT:

FencerForJesus wrote:I haven't been happy about them trying to take out fencing events, a sport that has been in the Modern (ancient Greek) Olypmics since thier founding. What amazes me is that they take out well known international sports like softball and put in something really weird like trampoline. Since when was trampoline a sport?

So softball and fencing are out to make room for trampoline and Ping-pong.

Oh, dear. I just found out that one of the main players on my fantasy team is out for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury. Does anyone else like to play fantasy football?

I haven't been happy about them trying to take out fencing events, a sport that has been in the Modern (ancient Greek) Olypmics since thier founding. What amazes me is that they take out well known international sports like softball and put in something really weird like trampoline. Since when was trampoline a sport?

Wow, they even took out fencing? That I didn't know, and I'm even more surprised than softball. It's such a old well-known sport. And they put in trampoline?! I think I heard they took out softball because it's not a very well known sport in many countries. They'll still have big tournaments and stuff though, so it's not too terribly bad.

He was looking good before he was injured, though! Is Vick the actual backup? I thought he was more of a work-in-progress after being out of football for so long.

Well, um, I didn't actually get to see the games more than a few times but from what I heard he did. I don't think Vick's the back-up though, I'm pretty sure they'll go with Feely and maybe keep player Vick as a receiver (I think that's where they were playing him). Especially since the team and Vick haven't really had a chance to play much together, and like you said he's been out a while.

Oh, dear. I just found out that one of the main players on my fantasy team is out for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury. Does anyone else like to play fantasy football?

Well, I don't know much about fantasy football, but Palamalu?(wow, I'm pretty sure that's a crazy spelling) Well, since I'm an Eagles fan, and not too fond of the Steelers I'll just say I saw the clip where he got hurt, and it looked pretty painful.

Along with the Eagles, my one friend asked "How 'bout them Eagles?" once after they got Vick, and got to hear my opinions about taking Vick Although I'm a lot more open to it now than I was before.

To be clear, they have not taken out fencing of the Olympics. They were targeting a couple of the events. In fencing, there are three disciplines (Foil, Epee, and Sabre), events are split Men's and Women's, and on top of that there are Individual and Team events. They took out Women's Team Epee and one other event (I don't remember which) for two other events (I think trampoline was one.) Suppossedly, one of the reasons for this is that fencing doesn't have the audience fan base that other sports do. It is true that fencing is not really a spectator sport, but how is curling a spectator sport? The reason fencing gets no attention is because those in the media don't care about it. The US swept the Women's Individual Saber event and was the second best fencing country in Beijing. How much attention did we get? Half a day, only because fencing was the first medals we got. Not a whisper after that. I wish they'd have a greater respect for a sport that had defined history and been there the entire time.

Be watching for the release of my spiritual warfare novel under a new title: "Call to Arms" by OakTara Publishing. A sequel (title TBD) will shortly follow.

I am a huge Eagles fan, so I was pretty excited about the way they played today, especially the defense and special teams! As for McNabb...I am not worried. I wouldn't be surprised if he misses some time, but we have a lot of other talent, and it really was our defense that carried us today. What I do not want to see is Vick starting once he comes back...he needs more time after being out of football so long. I wouldn't be surprised if we pick up A.J. Feeley or Jeff Garcia this week to play backup to Kolb. After all, both have been on the team before and done great for us.

I love fantasy football too. My friends and I are in the 7th year of our league this season. So far, my team hasn't done much....but I have a lot of Packers and Chargers that have yet to play.

On the diamond, I am a Cleveland Indians fan. It seems impossible that just two years ago, I was posting here on NW about the ALCS against Boston...*sigh*

I personally enjoy the winter olympics a lot more than the summer ones, so I am eagerly awaiting February to come around!

Now that the Patriots will be back to their winning ways, I can resume hating them in earnest. I almost didn't mind them winning when Matt Cassel was throwing the passes.

malkah wrote:

greenleaf23 wrote:Well, I just heard Donovan McNabb broke a rib maybe it was a good move to take Vick, although it'll probably heal pretty quickly.

He was looking good before he was injured, though! Is Vick the actual backup? I thought he was more of a work-in-progress after being out of football for so long.

Vick is still serving his suspension. He has to sit out at least one more game, and I heard it's possible that McNabb could be back in just two weeks.Brett Favre is playing for the Vikings. Weird. Now Green Bay really has a reason to hate the Vikings.

Mark my words, someday I will think of something brilliant to put in my sig.

The person who works across from me is from Wisconsin and an avid Packer fan. I can testify as to the strong reaction that some fans have had to Favre moving to an arch-rival. We'll see what comes about.

In other news, the University of Minnesota Gopher football team returned to campus yesterday, beating Air Force 20-13 in the brand-new $300-million TCF Bank Stadium (the team had been playing downtown in the Metrodome since 1982).

I was there back in the '70s when the Gophers played on campus, outdoors, in old Memorial Stadium. There really was something special about fall football Saturdays on campus, and I'm glad today's students have that again.

The major league baseball season is coming to a close and the playoff matchups are starting to firm up. In the American League Central, the Twins closed to within 3 games of leader Detroit by taking 2 of 3 games this weekend (I attended yesterday's 6-2 win with relatives; the 5-run 8th inning was enough to get the old stadium rocking )

Whichever team takes the Central will likely face New York in a series that would begin in Yankee Stadium - a tough row to hoe for just about anyone.

MLB: I am rooting for the Rockies. I rooted for them before they were good. Colorado is a team no one is going to want to play in the playoffs.

Altogether, the MLB Playoffs are just about set. In the AL, the Yankees have clinched a playoff spot with Boston Red Sox closing in. As starkat mentioned, Detroit and Minnesota are in a tight race. The AL Central is the only race still as a toss-up for now. Then the LA Angels are cruising in thier division as well. Boston has the Wild Card and only the Texas Rangers have a chance to catch up.

The NL is pretty much set up as well. Phily has a commanding lead in thier division as do the St. Louis Cardinals. The only race left is the NL West where there is a three-team race. LA Dodgers have a strong lead but end the season with thier nearest competitor, Colorado. Colorado has an equally large lead in the Wild Card race as the Dodgers have over Colorado. Baring a major Rocky collapse, Colorado will be in the playoffs for the second time in three years.

Now for play-off predictions. AL: Yankees likely hosting Detroit or Minnesota. They'll win in 4 games (if not three). Then it will be Angels hosting Red Sox and that series will go the distance (5 games) and will be a toss-up. Then I expect the Yank to win the ALCS is 6 games with whoever comes out of Red Sox/Angels.

NL: Currently slated for Dodgers hosting the Cardinals and Phily hosting Rockies. Cardinals have the best pitching out of the group and the Dodger bullpen is tired out. Cards in 4 or 5. Phily and Colorado were neck and neck in their season-series. Colorado has the better pitching (two 15-game winners, a 14-game winner, and one win for Hammels to have 5 starting pitchers with 10+ wins), and Phily has serious closer issues. Rockies in 4. Then in the NLCS, Rockies swept St. Louis in St. Louis to launch thier hot streak this season. The Cards will play them better but the Rockies will be right in the thick of it. Both teams have pitching and both teams have hitting. It will be a fun series that will go 6 or 7 games either way.

And finally the World Series. If the Yankees come out of it all, (upsets are always possible with them) I feel they will win it all. Boston doesn't have the strength they had two years ago in pitching or hitting, so a re-match with Colorado won't go so easy for them. The Rockies played the Angels tightly this seaon but I don't know how the others did. This World Series should be a close one.

Be watching for the release of my spiritual warfare novel under a new title: "Call to Arms" by OakTara Publishing. A sequel (title TBD) will shortly follow.

How is my favorite baseball team doing? Oy...did you have to ask? After another off-season of high hopes, the Cleveland Indians now have over 90 loses, including now 10 in a row. Needless to say, its been hard for me to get excited about baseball this summer...with the exception being the Twins-Indians game I went to in August. (That was a blast!) But, I am getting more interested now that the Twins and Tigers are battling it out. I really dislike the Tigers...and while for most Cleveland fans, even picking a team in this battle would be a borderline sinful action, I am without a doubt wanting the Twins to come out on top, and then upset the Yankees.

Mizzou plays Nevada tonight at 8 o'clock CT on national TV. Hooah! I can't wait to watch the game. I'm glad Mizzou's not playing a "cupcake" team this week. It wouldn't be as exciting to watch, if they were. Just 40 more minutes until the game.

Narnian_Storm wrote:...I am without a doubt wanting the Twins to come out on top, and then upset the Yankees.

Ditto!

Despite having won 8 of their last 10 games the Twins remain 2 games behind the Tigers going into tomorrow's series in Detroit. If the pennant is not decided there, it may go down to the season's last weekend.

And Brett Favre threw a 32-yard touchdown pass with 2 seconds left in the game to lift the Vikings to a 27-24 win over San Francisco in the home opener this afternoon (there's a sentence I'd never expected to write until recently ).